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Comment by nerdponx | Hacker News Reader

They're ubiquitous in America, but approximately nobody pays attention to the text because the position is what indicates on/off, where "up" in "on".

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Huh, I'd always considered that toggle switches are "down is on". (UK resident).

That way it's the same as a standard rocker switch (the direction of rotation is the same).

I’d expect a rocker switch in America to also be the same as our light switches - pressed at the top for on, pressed at the bottom for off.

That's generally a rocker switches work on devices in America, e.g. guitar amps: the side that is pressed is "on" or selected/enabled.

Last time I was in Europe (Portugal), I remember having a lot of difficulty making sense of the light switches, but it was one of those apartments where you have two or three light switches controlling the same fixture, which is always confusing.

Still, I think the American light switches are actually pretty good. Maybe one day we will get a Technology Connections video about light switches around the world.

Until you encounter a switch that's part of a three-way switch arrangement where up can be on or off depending on the position of the other switch in the circuit.

I've lived with these my whole life, in every place I've lived, plus with one or two switches that were sideways, so the first time I'd ever heard "up is on" was in a comment thread like this a few months ago. I didn't think there was any sort of standard, it's just always been "flip the switch if it's not currently what you want".

This is in the US.

It's still "on" in the sense of the circuit being closed.

In this case I mean "down" as in "the long part is pointing toward the ground", not "some button-like thing is depressed towards the wall".

Agreed, in the UK:

- 'angled towards the ground' is 'On' (https://cdn.aws.toolstation.com/images/141020-UK/800/10481.j...)

- 'angled towards the ceiling' is 'Off' (https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/Products/size_3/MKK4870....)

But that's completely backwards from a normal rocker switch!

In Aus most light switches are rocker switches that are also "down = on".

In aviation (and old cars) switches are usually toggle switches with "up = on".

Strangely I'm ok with both. I think of rocker switches as opposite to toggle switches automatically.

- https://www.google.com/search?q=rocker+switch

- https://www.google.com/search?q=toggle+switch

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